Investment Insights from Silicon Valley

The Trust’s Manager, Walter Price has over 40 years of experience of investing in technology and is based in San Francisco at the heart of the tech world. Read his latest views in Investment Insights from Silicon Valley below.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Surprising strength

Walter Price reflects on strength of technology companies through the current challenging times. He also looks at environmental factors – lockdown has given a glimpse of a potentially less polluted future. Finally contact tracing is drawing on the tech giants and US/China tensions re-emerge.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Investment management in lockdown

Walter Price chats about investment management under lockdown conditions. Plus, while the current environment seems to be helping some tech firms to flourish as demand for their services explodes, Walter cautions against seeing anyone as a particular winner. Finally, ‘what comes next?’

Insights from Silicon Valley

Coronavirus and beyond

In his latest update, Walter Price looks at how Covid-19 is impacting on the technology sector – which companies are struggling, which have benefitted – and what might a recovery look like? Although now overshadowed by coronavirus impacts, there is also the small issue of a US election looming.

Insights from Silicon Valley

A changing competitive landscape

Against the backdrop of 2019 – where technology market leadership shifted markedly – Walter looks at the changing competitive landscape for technology companies, illusory profits for tech unicorns, and a revival in semiconductor manufacturing. He also turns the spotlight on governance in the sector.

Insights from Silicon Valley

European launch of the ‘Gigafactory’

A new ‘Tesla Gigafactory’ is on its way to Germany – what might the future look like for the car industry there. We also look how the major social platforms are approaching political advertising and, finally, how does the team separate a good idea from a good business in the evolving world of tech?

Insights from Silicon Valley

A recent trip to China

The team visited China recently and saw evidence of Chinese manufacturing hurting. However, less mature supply chains in many alternative locations mean while China might be down, it is not out. We also look at developments in the payments arena, and what’s driving the next wave of hardware devices.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Spotlight on Asia

Walter Price examines China’s new tech-focused ‘Star’ stock exchange – a move in the right direction, but can it become a Nasdaq rival? Walter also looks at the growing tension between Japan and Korea and the likely impact on tech. Finally, should we be concerned by China’s slowing growth?

Insights from Silicon Valley

Corporate confidence, as seen by the technology sector

Walter Price gives his outlook on the varying levels of business confidence across the technology sector in light of mixed economic indicators and financial market uncertainty. Walter also discusses sustainability, plus the next generation of cloud-based security companies come under the spotlight.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Vision of change

In his latest update, Walter Price looks at some of the technology sector’s visionary leaders and how they strive to stay ahead of consumer and market trends. Walter also reviews the status of the so-called ‘legacy businesses’ and how they have fared in their transition to cloud computing.

Insights from Silicon Valley

A dovish Fed

In his latest update, Walter Price considers US monetary policy, how the US has become more sensitive to interest rate rises and how this all impacts on investors. Walter also shares his thoughts on other topical issues, including 5G.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Huawei and the trade war

Against the backdrop of ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China, this month’s update focuses on Chinese mobile giant Huawei and its aspirations for future domination.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Earnings and the economic landscape

The fourth quarter earnings season is in its final stages. It came amid a difficult backdrop: tariff negotiations with China are ongoing, the US government has only just emerged from a protracted shut-down and the global economy appears to be slowing.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Labour displacement

Technology is disruptive. It can render old industries obsolete, and bring new industries into existence. Naturally this has frequent - and sometimes controversial - consequences for the labour market, but historically, where one industry has faded, another has often emerged to to take its place.

Insights from Silicon Valley

The online advertising boycott

Recent weeks have seen considerable controversy around online advertising. Google’s European boss was forced to apologise after adverts from companies and government agencies appeared next to extremist content on YouTube.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Messaging apps

The world of messaging is more exciting than it initially appears: although messaging apps are ostensibly just a means to communicate with friends, they offer advertisers a means to target an otherwise elusive younger demographic.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Many happy returns

Christmas may be long gone, but the results from the 2016 Christmas shopping season are starting to emerge, and with them comes a clear picture on the winners and losers.

Insights from Silicon Valley

The state of e-commerce

It seems pertinent to discuss e-commerce as the holiday season is here. Online retailing has long been a growing trend, but the rate of growth continues to surprise.

Insights from Silicon Valley

The Trump Aftermath

Much like the Brexit result, the polls were wrong in the US Presidential election, and Donald Trump is the next President of the United States. What does this mean for technology stocks in particular and stocks in general?

Insights from Silicon Valley

Ericsson vs. Huawei

The shifting mobile market claimed another scalp last month as Ericsson reported a slump in profits. The Swedish telecoms equipment maker blamed rising competition and said it would continue to cut costs, but its problems are part of a wider phenomenon...

Insights from Silicon Valley

Apple's EU tax bill

Apple’s EU tax bill Apple attracted headlines not solely for the launch of its new iPhone 7 this month, but also for an eye-popping €13bn tax bill from the European Commission. The EC ruled that the ‘sweetheart deal’ struck between the Irish Government and the US tech giant was illegal.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Brexit: a perspective

Inevitably, we need to discuss the UK’s historic decision to separate from the European Union. The technology sector is unlikely to feel as direct an impact as some other sectors...

Insights from Silicon Valley

Technology builds new markets

One of the key differentiating factors of technology – and why it is such an exciting place to invest – is that it has the power to create new markets.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Reasons to invest in technology in 2016

These have been a turbulent few months in markets, and technology has not escaped the rout. In spite of the stabilisation seen in March and April, it has been an unnerving period for investors.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Artificial intelligence, views on China and FANG valuations…

Artificial intelligence plays to some of the greatest fears about technology: A world where we interact with machines, rather than each other; where ‘chatbots’ solve our problems rather than people.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Is the tech sector better-placed to deliver structural growth over the long term?

Investors the world over are worried about growth. Is China slowing? Is the US slowing? And if so, how severely? The technology sector may be better-placed over the long-term to deliver structural growth, but it is not immune from these concerns.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Key themes for 2016

Technology was one of the clear winners in 2015, amid a generally lacklustre year for stock markets. The Nasdaq finished the year nearly 6% ahead of the wider S&P 500 index. However, the strength has been confined to a few key names, the so called ‘FANG’ companies.

Insights from Silicon Valley

The common unicorn

Originally named for their rarity, technology ‘unicorns’ are now as common as pigeons on Wall Street. From Airbnb, Dropbox to Pinterest and Uber, there are an increasing number of companies hitting the $1bn valuation mark in the private market (the qualifying point for a ‘unicorn’).

Insights from Silicon Valley

Markets rattled

These have been tricky times for investors in all sectors, and technology has been no exception.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Chinese stock market in crisis

The domestic Chinese market has been in meltdown since the Government announced short-selling restrictions. This is obviously a concern. We have around 5% of our portfolio in China, albeit in Hong Kong listed shares rather than the ‘A’ Shares market.

Insights from Silicon Valley

What makes a valuable brand?

Forbes has released its annual list of the most valuable brands. It is striking how many technology names feature on the list - six of the top 10 brands are technology groups.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Wobbling bond markets and the ‘bond proxy’ phenomenon

A June rise in interest rates now looks increasingly unlikely, with some commentators believing the Federal Reserve may defer into 2016. Nevertheless, bond markets are wobbling and the issue of interest rate rises continues to influence stock markets. The technology sector is not immune.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Introducing the Apple Watch

Pre-orders for the much-hyped Apple Watch open on the 10th April. Those without the $10,000 for the gold-and-sapphire version may be more tempted by the basic Watch Sport, which starts at $350.

Insights from Silicon Valley

The earnings season – the good and the bad

This has been a volatile earnings season, polarising into the good - which have done extremely well – and the bad, which are now facing serious questions about their sustainability.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Outlook for the technology sector in 2015

Walter Price, Manager of Allianz Technology Trust, provides his outlook for the technology sector in 2015 and reviews the top technology trends of 2014.

Insights from Silicon Valley

The connected car

There is almost nothing that illustrates the pervasiveness of modern technology better than the development of the connected car. A few short years’ ago, cars were a technology-free zone, and yet now technology is promising to transform the driver’s experience and improve road safety.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Semiconductor sell-off: a time to panic?

There has been a notable sell-off among semi-conductor stocks this month, enough to drag the Nasdaq lower and raise fears of a wider slow-down in the technology sector. The catalyst for the share price falls was a profit warning from Microchip Technology, which cited weaker demand in China.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Amazon drones

Amazon’s director of UK Operations said recently that all the group’s deliveries could one day be made by automated drone. While the concept sounds space-age, the technology is already well-progressed.

Insights from Silicon Valley

New brooms

Angela Ahrendts made her first public comments this month since taking over at the helm of Apple’s retail operations. She chose LinkedIn as the medium and in doing so, marked a clear change in personal style from that of previous management.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Technology earnings

When the higher valued technology stocks sold off in March and April, the key to their revival or otherwise was always likely to be earnings. As it was, many of the bellwether technology groups either hit or beat consensus expectations in the April earnings season.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Technology: a bubble?

The fears of a second bubble in technology had been mounting: there were once again hints of exuberance on the part of investors after the NASDAQ hit highs not seen since the giddy days of 2000...

Insights from Silicon Valley

Technology in the news

In last month’s newsletter, we mentioned the burgeoning trend of internet security. Major retailers have been stung by the coordination and sophistication of recent cyber-attacks and have been forced to address the holes in their security systems as a matter of priority.

Insights from Silicon Valley

Technology in the news

Microsoft has long understood the necessity of shifting its business from its weakening core markets to newer and higher growth areas. To date, its execution has been erratic; there have been ill-judged forays into the mobile phone world, for example.

© Allianz Global Investors GmbH 2020, Registered Office: Frankfurt am Main, Register: HRB 9340, Local court: Frankfurt am Main. All Rights Reserved. Allianz Technology Trust PLC is incorporated in England and Wales. (Company registration no. 3117355). Registered Office: 199 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 3TY. VAT registration no. 678 1784 81. The Company is a member of the Association of Investment Companies - Category: Sector Specialists - Technology, Media & Telecoms.